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For example, in the village court meetings, seats are often set up in a square with a large lime tree, and all the adult male peasants are gathered at a certain date and time each year to find a verdict on a specific dispute that occurred in the village and read the verdict to everyone. The head of the meeting was always an official from the feudal lord's side, who was present with the village officials and played a major role in running the meeting. Nevertheless, the procedure and form of finding a verdict with the participation of all members and confirming the collective will are reminiscent of the prototype of the direct democratic Landsgemeinde that is practiced in the cantons of Switzerland today, although on a different scale. Because the village court records or village laws have this kind of character, there are large regional differences, and compared to the highly autonomous and covenant-like "urban laws" that were established during the rise of medieval cities and have many commonalities, it must be said that there are qualitative differences in the legal principles and systems of self-government.

*Some of the terminology that mentions "Landsgemeinde" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…例えばそこからは，〈むら〉の裁判集会につき，多くの場合，大きな菩提樹などのある広場へ席を設け，成年男子の農民全員を集めて，毎年一定の日時に，村内で発生した具体的な係争事件につき判決を発見し，判告を全員に読み上げる光景が読み取れるが，この集会の上席には必ず領主側の役人がおり，村方のそれと立ち会う形をとりながら，集会の運営に大きく関与していたことがわかる。しかしそれにもかかわらず，構成員の全員参加による判決の発見，団体意思の確認という手続きと形式は，スケールこそちがえ，今日スイスの各州(カントン)自治体で行われている直接民主主義的なランツゲマインデLandsgemeindeの原型を思わせるものがある。　村方判告録ないし村法は，このような性格をもつものであるため，その地域差が大きく，中世都市の勃興期に達成されたあのすぐれて自主的･誓約団的な，また相互に共通点の多い〈都市法〉と比較するならば，その自治の法理や諸制度の面で質的な相違があるといわなければならない。…

※「Landsgemeinde」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報